Engine governor



M. MALLORY ENGINE GOVERNOR i( Dern 9, 1947.

INVENTOA /Vaf/'an Na//ary f pendulum controlled air bleed valve vof my governor.

Patented Dec. 9, 1947 UNITED'STATE-S PATENT' OFFICE Marion Mallory, Detroit, Mich.

Application April 26, 1944, Serial No. 532,719A .f

This invention relates to a multiple speed governor for an internal combustion engine.

It is essential 'in controlling the speed of some internal combustion engines, especially truck and bus engines, that the engine should be governed at a plurality of speeds depending upon the operating conditions. For example, supposing that the engine of a truck is governed to have a top speed of 2500 R. P.M. to give the vehicle a top speed of 40 miles per hour, Vif such truck were heavily loaded'it would be necessary to shift into very low gear for climbing a hill which would make the vehicle speed very low due.t to the engine being governed at a top speed of 25004 R. P. M. Under such a condition it would be desirable to have the engine governed. at a higher top speed. Of course, the higher top governed speed would be under a speed at which the engine would tear itself to pieces. 'j f It is the object of this invention to produce a governor for controlling an internal combustion engine at diil'erent speeds, and more Aparticularly to produce a governor whichvwill control an in ternal combustion engine at a plurality of diiierent top speeds dependent .upon the particular conditions under which the engine is operated.

In the drawings: 1 Fig. 1 is an elevation partly in section showing my engine multiple speed governor.

Fig. 2 is a detail showing the position of the when the vehicle is traveling uphill.

Fig. 3 is a detail of a-modied form of my engine multiple speed governor.

Fig, 4 is a detail of a second modified form 4 claims. (c1. iso-"m I 4 2 i municates with atmosphere whereas housing I2 to the right of diaphragm II communicates only with and is connected into, conduit I3. Conduit I6 communicates at oneend with conduiti I3 and at the other end'with orifice .I 1" vin venturi I3 in the "intake, passageway on the engine .side of valve 4. The frame of the vehicle upon which my engine governor is mounted is designated I4.4

l l,Conduit I3 is arranged to communicate withl atmosphere but this communication is controlled by a plurality of valves, one of which actuates in response to engine speed and the other of which -opens when the vehicle is climbing a hill'l and .closes when the vehicle is travelingv on a hori zontal roadway. l

The centrifugal valve is designated 'and mounted within valve housing 2I fixed on shaft i 22 which rotates in accordance with the speed of lthe-engine.v As herein shown, shaft 22 is the engine distributor shaft. The distributor is designated 23. Thus, the speed of rotation of valve Referring more particularly to the drawings there is shown a governor housing I having an inlet 2 and an outlet 3. The governor housing is adapted to be connected into the intake manifold of an internal combustion engine on the engine side of the carburetor.

A governor valve 4 of the butterfly type is l mounted within the housing on shaft 5 journalled A suction device is provided for operating gov- -i ernor valve 4. This suction device comprises a housing I2 and flexible diaphragm II. Diaphragm IIvis connected by rod I0 to crank 6. Housing I2 to the leftof diaphragm II comhousing 2I varies directly with the speed of the engine. Shaft 22 is journalled in stationary housing 24.

Shaft 22 is provided with an axial passageway 25 and a diametrical opening 26. Diametrical opening 26 is in continuous communication with circumferential clearance 21 about shaft 22. Clearance 21 communicates at all times with con'- duit I3. Passageway 25 isin continuous communication with cylinder 28 in valve housing 2|. Piston valve 20 is mounted in cylinder 28 and provided with a longitudinal external groove. 29. Piston valve 20 controls port 30 in housing 2|. Port 3l!v communicates with passageway 25 through groove 29. Stationary housing 24 is provided with aport 3| to atmosphere. Valve 20 is at all times urged toward open position by tension spring 32 which is connected at one end to valve 20 and at the other end to block 33 having a threaded t with a screw 34 for adjusting the tension of spring 32.

The centrifugally unbalanced valve 20 functions to control the speed of the engine in the same mannerV as described in my copending application Serial No. 466,961, led November'25, 1942, now Patent No. 2,381,550, granted August 7, 1945, and therefore will not be described in detail. 'I'he tension of spring 32 will be adjusted to control the closing of valve 20 at whatever engine speed desired. As'soon as the engine reaches i its governed speed, say, for example, 2500 R. P. M.,

valve 20 will close or almost close orifice 30 thereby shutting oii the air bleed to atmosphere of dia..

anarco materially cut down the road speed of the vehicle. It is desirable to increase somewhat the low gear road speed of the vehicle over the low gear road speed of the vehicle that would be possible if the governed speed of the engine remained the same in low gear as when operating xin high gear. To this end it is proposed to change the top governed speed of the engine when the vehicle is climbing a hill which will necessitate shifting into low gear. This top governed speed;

of course, will be below any speed which would be damaging to the engine. Itis' proposed to increase the top governed speed of the engine when `traveling up a hill by increasing the air bleed to suction operated device I2. This air bleed comprises an orifice 40 leading from conduit i3 to atmosphere which is controlled by a'needle valve 4|. Needle valve 4| in turn is controlled by a pendulum comprising a bell crank 42 pivoted on the vehicle frame as at 43 and carrying a weight 44. Valve 4| is supported on arm 45 of the bell crank. l l

When the vehicle is operating on a horizontal or level road, pendulum 42 holds valve 4| closed so that the speed of the engine is governed by the centrifugally unbalanced valve 20. Upon reaching a hill, as soon as the vehicle starts to climb, the vehicle frame will be inclined from the horizontal, that is, it will be inclined downwardly from the front to the rear of the vehicle. This inclination of the vehicle will cause pendulum 42 to swing clockwise about pivot 43 thus causing valve'4i to openiair bleed orifice 40 to atmosphere, Fig. 2. Thus, the manifold Vacuum impressed upon diaphragm through orifice |1 and `conduit I6 will be bled down or decreased through air bleed orifice 40. In other words, air bleed orifice 40 now being open raises the pressure in suction device l2 somewhat and therefore permits spring 1 to hold governor valve 4 further open to thereby increase the speed of the engine. To put it another way, as long as air bleed 40 is open the engine must travel at a higher speed in order to induce suillcient vacuum in suction device I2 to cause diaphragm to move valve 4 toward closed position. The net effect of the opening of air bleed orifice 40 is to raise the governed speed of the engine. The size of orifice 40 will determine the degree of air bleed and the extent to which the top governed speed of the engine is increased. If the engine is governed at, say, 2500 R. P. M. for horizontal road speed, it may be desirable to increase the speed of the engine for climbing hills in low gear to, say, 3000 R. P. M. As soon as the vehicle returns to a level or horizontal road, pendulum 44 swings back to the position shown and closes air bleed valve 4I thereby returning the engine to the control of the centrifugal governor.

This same principle can be applied to a governor using centrifugal weights. Such an arrangement is shown in Fig. 3. In this form of the invention the governor throttle valve is designated I and is operated by arm 6| connected to bell crank lever 62 by a pin and slot connection 63. Bell crank lever 62 is pivoted at 64. One end of bell crank v62 is in the form of a yoke 60 which engages in and straddles collar 66 mounted to slide on and rotate with shaft 66. Shaft 66 v is operated olf the engine and the speed of shaft 56 varies directly in accordance with the speed of the engine. A collar 51 is connected to shaft 56 by pin 56 so that collar 61 is xed to and rotates Awith shaft 56. A sleeve 69 is slidably mounted on shaft 66 and keyed to rotate with shaft 56 by means of pin 56 and elongated slot 60 in sleeve 59. Sleeve 59 has fixed thereto collar 6|. A pendulum arm' 62 pivoted on the vehicle frame as at 63 has a yoke 64 at one end and a weight 65 at the other end. Yoke 64 engages between collar 6|. Collars 55 and 51 are connected to centrifugal weights 66 by links 61. A coil spring 66 is mounted between collar 66 and collar 69 on sleeve 66 to resist the spreading apart of weights 66 by centrifugal force.

The operation of this form of the device is as follows: As the speed of the engine approaches its governed. speed, the centrifugal force of weights 66 overcomes the force of spring 66 thereby moving slidable collar 55 toward collar 51 which acts through arms 62 and 6| to 4move throttle valve 50 toward closed position. This is a conventionalcentrifugal weight controlled governor. As the vehicle starts to climb the hill, pendulum 65 swings from the full line position, Fig. 3, to the dotted line position, thereby acting through yoke 64 and collar 6| to slide sleeve 59 to the left on shaft 56 thereby compressing or increasing the tension of spring 66. This increase in the tension or compression of spring 68 will require a higher engine speed before weights 66 vcan spread apart and operate to move throttle valve 50 toward closed position. Thus, by increasing the tension of centrifugal governor spring 68, I increase the top speed at which the engine is governed while climbing a hill. When the vehicle reaches level ground, weight 65 will return to the full line position thereby decreasing the tension of spring 66 and correspondingly reducing the governed top speed of the engine for horizontal road travel of the vehicle.

In Fig. 4 I have shown a modied control for air bleed valve. 4| of the form of invention shown in Fig. 1. In this form a float chamber 10 is partly iilled with a liquid, such as oil 1|. The float is designated 12, the float arm 13 and the pivot for the float arm 14. Float Chamber 10 is provided with an air vent 15 to atmosphere. Needle valve 4| is supported on float arm 13. When the vehicle is climbing a hill the float chamber will set on an angle from the horizontal and the liquid will fall back to the rear of the chamber permitting float 12 to drop and needle valve 4| will als drop admitting air to the suction device, thereby raising the governed speed of the engine in the same manner as described with respect to the form of invention shown in Fig. 1. Mercury can be used in the float chamber instead of the oil 1|. In such case float 12 will not be necessary because needle valve 4I itself would float on the heavy metal mercury.

All of the forms of this device above described will give `the engine more speed on rapid acceleration of the vehicle such as occurs when operating in low or intermediate gear. A vehicle, such as a passenger car or light truck, will accelerate from 5 to 25 miles per hour in about ten seconds, but it would take about twice as long to accelerate from 25 to 45 miles per hour. The pendulum, Figs. 1 and 3, and the liquid, Fig. 4, would move back on rapid acceleration to thereby open valve 4l or increase the tension of spring 68, thereby increasing somewhat the top governed speed of the engine during such rapid acceleration. When the acceleration occurs at high speed, the pendulum would not swing back because the rate of acceleration at high speeds is considerably less than at low speeds.

From the above it will be seen that the pendulum principle can be applied to several types of governors for controlling the speed of internal vcombustion engines.

The pendulum principle can be used for bleeding suction devices where the manifold suction is used for controlling the governor throttle valve, for tightening the spring on l. The combinationvwith an internal combustion engine having an intake passageway provided with a throtle valve for controlling the flow of motive fluid to the engine, a device actuated by suction from a point in said passageway between the throttle valve and the engine and having an operative connection with said throttle valve, first and second air bleeds to atmosphere for said pressure actuated means, a centrifugally unbalanced valve rotated in accordance with the engine speed for controlling one of said air bleedsand tending to close said air bleed at a predetermined engine speed whereby the device -tends to. move said throttle valve towards closed position, and valve means responding upon inclining the engine to the vertical for opening said other air bleed whereby when the centrifugal valve is closed the fuel intake passageway suction is partly bled down and the engine is governed at a speed higher than that at which the centrifugally unbalanced valve for the other air bleed tends to close said other air bleed.

2. The combination with an internal combustion engine having an intake passageway provided with a throttle valve for controlling the new of -motive fluid 'to the engine, means actuated through vacuum in the intake passageway on the engine side of said throttle valve for imparting closing movement to said throttle valve, first and second air bleed ports to atmosphere positioned in parallel relation for bleeding air into said vacuum actuated means, a valve for one of said air bleed ports normally open and closing in response to a predetermined engine speed whereby, when the other air bleed port is closed, the said vacuum actuated means responds to intake passageway vacuum and tends to move said throttle valve toward closed position, and valve means for the other of said air bleed ports responsive to a change in inclination of the engine from the horizontal for opening said second port and bleeding air into said vacuum actuated means to thereby increase the governed speed of the en- Bine.

3. In a vehicle propelled by 'an internal combustion engine having an intake passageway provided with a throttle valve for controlling the flow i. of motive uid to the engine, means actuated through the suction in the intake passageway on the engine side of said valve for imparting closing movement to said valve, first and second air bleed ports opening to atmosphere independently of each other and positioned in parallel relation for bleeding air into said suction actuated means, a normally open valve for one of said air bleed ports, means connected to said valve for closing the same in response to a predetermined engine speed whereby said suction actuated means, when the other air bleed port is closed, responds to intake passageway suction and tends to close said throttle valve, a valve for the other of said air bleed ports, and inertia responsive mechanism connected to said second valve for. opening the same when the speed of the vehicle is quickly accelerated and also when the vehicle is traveling uphill whereby when the rst air bleed port is closed the full intake passageway suction is bled down in said suction device and the governed speed of the engine is increased. v

4. In a vehicle propelled by an internal ccmbustion engine having an intake passageway provided with a throttle valve for controlling the ow of motive fluid to the engine, means actuated through the suction in the intake passageway on the engine side of said valve for imparting closing movement to said valve, resilient means biasing said throttle valve toward open position, rst and second air bleed ports opening to atmosphere independently of each other and positioned in parallel relation for bleeding air into said suction actuated means, a normally open valve for one of said air bleed ports, centrifugal means rotated in accordance with the engine speed and connected to said valve for closing the same in response to a predetermined engine speed whereby said suction actuated means,when the other air bleed port is closed, responds to intake passageway suction and tends to close said throttle valve, a valve for the other of said air bleed ports, and inertia responsive mechanism connected to said second valve for opening the same when the speed of the vehicle is quickly accelerated and also when the vehicle is traveling uphill whereby opening of said second air bleed valve will at all times reduce the suction in said suction 'actuated means regardless of the position of the first air bleed valve.

MARION MALLORY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the nie of this patent:

l UNITED STATES PATENTS 

